Software Viruses: Is Your Business Protected?

They are the scourge of every business. If a virus gets past your IT security it can cause downtime, loss of business and may mean you incur costs in call out fees and repairs. Behind your everyday use of the internet, there are thousands of people using up millions of man hours to keeping your online world protected.

Hackers have been around since computers began and they have become more and more sophisticated in the ways they attempt to attack the system. Sometimes they are aided by programming faults like the Heartbleed bug which hit the headlines recently and got everyone worried. Other times, hackers bank on individuals and organisations who don’t update their IT security on a regular basis.

Types of threat to your business

Computer virus – it needs a host to operate and can modify how your computer works.

Worm – it doesn’t need a host but can replicate itself and cause damage to your underlying systems.

Trojan horse – this pretends to be something else and can damage your hard drive and, once unleashed, can be difficult to repair.

The cost of a virus? Estimates for the ILOVEYOU worm put the financial damage at around £7 billion. For your business, a virus that gets into your system could damage your office equipment and infect your website, reaching out to your customers and causing untold damage to their computers and your reputation.

How to protect your business

Have effective and robust anti-virus software installed that updates regularly and keeps you ahead of the hackers.

Include anti-spyware and ensure your Firewall is up and running.

Software like Microsoft Updates should be installed as soon as they are available – they often contain fixes and blocks for malware and bugs within your operating system.

Update regularly. For virus software this should be done every day. Most people have their virus software set to update as soon as there is one available.

Check that your business website is protected. It’s not just your office workers who need to be saved from the hackers. If you run a website then you need to make sure you have the right coding or plug-ins installed on your site.

Make sure you have robust password policy

Don’t allow people to use the name of their pet or their favourite film star. A strong password policy can go a long way to preventing people hacking into your system. Each password should contain a mix of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and characters. Remember, computer software designed to reveal passwords can go through a million possibilities in the mere blink of an eye.

How can small businesses better protect themselves?

As we develop our technology, the level of information security becomes more and more complex. For businesses it’s not just a case of having the right anti-virus software installed. More and more companies are starting to employ IT security specialists who can better protect them and their online world.

These IT security companies can run a range of checks on your systems to make sure you are up-to-date and have the latest settings and software. They can run advanced vulnerability checks that are designed to keep you ahead of the hackers and provide security for both you and your customers.

In short, they can keep you safe.

Bio:

I am Erika Chitty. I work for M2Computing in Operations & Sales support. M2 Computing is the best IT support service provider in South East, United Kingdom. For further information please visit http://www.m2computing.co.uk/